In 2014, the Choir went down to Pro B. In 2024, history seems to repeat itself after a fairly similar season.
Welcome to the future. Saturday May 11, the Roanne Choir hosts Lyon-Villeurbanne on its floor at the Halle Vacheresse. This is its last match of the 2023-2024 season but also in the elite of French basketball since the club knows that it will have to return to Pro B at the start of the school year. This near future (10 days from now) has the air of déjà vu. Already in 2014, Roanne ended its season against Asvel, in Vacheresse.
At the time, Luka Pavicevic’s Roannais were already relegated and they had completely given up (106 to 74). “The end of a very long ordeal”, even headlined The country after the final championship match. During this season, the Choir had always flirted with the relegation zone, notably remaining in 14th place from 13th to 23rd. e daytime. She had plunged into the red zone seven days before the end and was unable to escape. “We missed out sportingly,” summed up the president at the time, Christophe Pillet. In 30 days, Roanne had not won a single away match, winning all of its six victories on home soil.
A decade later and while the season is not over, the total will be greater, but the format has changed with 18 teams in the elite, compared to 16 at the time. So much for the comparison on an accounting level.
Stability in 2014, movements in 2024
On a sporting level, the two seasons have one similarity: that of completely failed endings to matches. In 2013-2014, the Chorale often lost in the final seconds, being pushed back by its opponent after having widened the gap. A situation that we are experiencing again this season.
The difference is at the staff level. A decade ago, the coach at the time Luka Pavicevic remained on the Chorale bench all season despite poor results. Jean-Denys Choulet was not so lucky, who was dismissed from his position at the beginning of March with ten days to go. “I am not sure, for example, that we would have won more matches by parting ways with Luka Pavicevic during the season,” assured Christophe Pillet in the spring of 2014.
But at the time the three Americans recruited in the off-season had already left at the end of the first leg. The former president then spoke of the players’ lack of motivation.
The Choir of the 2013-2014 vintage relied on Pape-Philippe Amagou, Yohann Sangaré and William Gradit, while Guerschon Yabusele and Thomas Ville were still young.
Today’s Choir has more big talent with the best player in the division in terms of passes and interceptions. This is DJ Cooper. The club also has the fifth best rebounder in Yannis Morin. And what about Sekou Dobouya who has averaged 21.8 points since his arrival? Ten years ago, no Choralien appeared in the top stats rankings.
In 2014, Christophe Pillet described the Choir as “a team that produces more problems than results”. A valid observation for its descendant of 2024? Difficult to say but this season’s group has also changed a lot. The club has used up its 16 contracts. The roster for the month of September has nothing to do with that of this month of May.
Then there remains the context. In 2014, Roanne returned to the second division after 12 seasons in the basketball elite and above all with a record enriched by a new French champion title (and a Week of Aces). The disappointment was equal to the emotions experienced. This time, the Choir returns to Pro B after five seasons at the highest level. In five years, the Choraliens have always fought to maintain themselves, achieving their best result in 2023 with a 13 e place. In sport as in life, history can seem like an eternal start again.
